Panel Discussion: Countdown, Simon Dark, Booster Gold and More

Albo is shirking his blogging responsibilities this week, so Panel Discussion this week is all AHR, which roughly translates to all DC. Hoo boy. Get ready for some goofy, wacky, and bizarrely violent crap! Also, huge spoilers for last week's comics after the jump...

Meme Alert: Countdown - Arena #2
That's Earth 32's Bruce Wayne, and of course what he means is "I'm the goddamn green lantern." Putting damn in bold won't make up for the PG rated swears, DC.

Enough Already! - Countdown #20
So on his blog, Paul Dini said that since Trickster recently died of a smashed face, "Piper won't have to listen to gay jokes anymore". He LIED to us, readers! Unable to cope with the loss of his boorishly gaycist non-friend, Piper has resorted to talking to Trickster's corpse and making gay jokes about himself. Make it stop.

The Banana Randomizer Award For Achievement in WTF: Wonder Woman #15
Silly nazis; if you go poking around in an Amazonian horse stable, don't look surprised when you find a vagina-with-teeth tentacle monster. Try to die with dignity.

Less Is More Award - Simon Dark #3
Comics have the habit of cluttering up the frames with extraneous sound effects and non verbal exclamations like "Wh-" or "Hhn?". A good facial expression and a sharp panel composition can speak volumes all by themselves, as shown by this completely "silent" sequence which perfectly evokes Simon's unnatural stealth. The art in this book has been fantastic for all three issues, I hope it finds an audience soon.

Beatdown of the Week: The Joker vs Booster Gold, Booster Gold #5Booster time travels into the Killing Joke to try to save Barbara Gorden's spine (and make a lot of comic fans very happy), and succeeds only in getting beat across the face with his own adorable robot pal. Where is your futuristic artillery now, Skeets? Even AI gets flustered around the Joker.

Biggest Set Up: Green Arrow - Black Canary #3
Ollie, please! "Safe"? Don't say things like that. You're a Superhero. A DC Superhero. Your loved ones are not safe. Oh well, it's not as if some sort of hand-of-god lightning bolt is going to come down and...
...right. As much as I usually love Cliff Chiang's smooth cartoony art (not to mention Trish Mulvihill's exquisite colors), the horrified expressions here are a little reserved given the situation. Canary and Speedy seem to be wearing looks of "Is he alright?" His ribcage is showing, ladies, that's a bad sign.

Panel Discussion: Scans From Countdown, Booster Gold and Black Adam: The Dark Age,

Every Monday, Geekanerd brings you the most remarkable comic panels of the week, or at the very least, some really violent ones. Click 'em for hi-res.

Most Creative/Inexplicable Use Of Powers - Superman Prime, Countdown #24
Sooo...what's going on here? How does heat-vision plus water equal multiple nuclear explosions? Did Supes Prime actually float there for however long it took him to raze all of Atlantis, one square inch at a time? Did he boil the entire ocean until all of the nuclear cores in Atalntis(!?) went critical? Is he using his heat-vision to hit the Atlantis' Death Star style exagust port that causes the whole city to blow up? I need more information.


Beatdown of the Week - Rip Hunter, Booster Gold #4
Nothing pisses off Rip Hunter like having his old girlfriends erased from the space-time continuum. Wait, but if she was erased from time, how would he remember her? Oh well, I'm sure it's explained somewhere - let's focus instead on that upper-cut in the last panel. Even if the path of his arm is a little stilted, that's a hell of a punch.

Black Adam Award For Tearing A Guy In Half - Black Adam, Black Adam: The Dark Age #4
What I like most about this page is that these two doomed Black Ops soldiers totally have the right idea about what to do if you see Black Adam coming for you. Don't stop and shoot, just run. Fire your weapon aimlessly behind you as your run, sure, but really concentrate on the running part. They both still died, of course, but style points for both of them.

Panel Discussion: The Week in Comic Book Scans

Every week Geekanerd brings you the best, worst and weirdest panels from the week's comics. There will be SPOILERS. Be sure to click these puppies for high res action!

Beatdown of the Week - Simon Dark #1
Yikes!

Serrated bonesaws, supervillain tears and Silver Age goofery after the jump!

Best Silver Age Throwback - Booster Gold #3
This panel, which demonstrates the alternate past Booster has to prevent, might actually BE a cover from the silver age. The gaping facial expressions, the use of the phrase "How could you?", the classic Superman in half-dressed pose...the only thing missing is wanton cruelty.

Even Supervillains Cry - New Avengers #35 Poor Jigsaw just can't catch a break.

Best Visual Gag - Green Arrow/Black Canary #1
Classic. Especially hilarious is the contrast in tools; Doc Midnite has his delicate little surgical implements, whereas Bats goes straight to the electric bonesaw. Bro don't mess!